This invention relates to wax preservative compositions. More specifically, the invention relates to a petrolatum wax-biocidal composition and a method for preseving wooden articles.
Wood and wooden articles degrade when exposed to fungus and/or high humidity environments. When wood is immersed in water the degradation is accelerated. Exposure to salt water or fresh water containing woodboring animals and/or crustaceans such as worms or barnacles and plant life such as algae and the like tend to further accelerate degradation process.
To increase the useful lifetime of wood and wooden articles, the wood can be treated with antifungicidal and biocidal compositions. The compositions usually contain paraffinic waxes, petroleum distillates, water, and one or more antifungicidal and/or biocidal compounds. The wax is usually less than about 10% by weight of the composition. The wax emulsion compositions require surfactants to prevent the separation of the composition during storage. In addition, the petroleum distillates can be highly flammable so that the articles must be thoroughly dried in an open-air environment prior to use. The drying of the articles lengthens the manufacturing process and increases the cost of the final product. Furthermore, paraffin wax compositions tend to crack during thermocycling and have low enough melting points so that the preservative will tend to leach out of the wax in warm climates.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a composition and method of treating wooden articles with a low cost, flexible, high melting and flash point material. It would also be desirable to have a composition with a structure that provides for the time release of a biocidal or antifungicidal agent incorporated in the composition.